


Sometimes It Takes A Ghost

by Eternal Scribe (Shadowcat)



Category: Tomorrow Series - John Marsden, Tomorrow When the War Began (2010), Tomorrow When the War Began - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-16
Updated: 2013-12-16
Packaged: 2018-01-04 20:33:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1085411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadowcat/pseuds/Eternal%20Scribe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Homer is feeling confused about the depth of his rage and gets a visit from an old friend who lays it all out for him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sometimes It Takes A Ghost

**Author's Note:**

  * For [disassociate](https://archiveofourown.org/users/disassociate/gifts).



It took Homer the longest of the group to realize what he was feeling.

Corrie was the one who said something to him. Well, not Corrie, of course since she had been killed at the beginning of the invasion. It was more like Corrie's ghost came to visit him one night while he was watching over Ellie's house. He and his family had decided not to tell Ellie the danger she could be in until there was proof of it because they were all of the opinion that Ellie needed a break. She needed to not have the threat of danger in her mind with everything she had already been through. So he, his brother and his father had been taking turns pulling sentry duty over her place.

It was on one of those nights that Homer was having a hard time biting back his rage at the whole situation. Couldn't they just catch a break? Couldn't Ellie catch a god damned break? They had lost so much since the invasion -- Ellie more than most. It just wasn't fair that after losing Corrie, Robyn, her parents, and most of her land that she should be in danger of losing her life -- again. He didn't do well with being helpless and right now he was feeling helpless that he couldn't do anything for Ellie than to be a silent sentry over her home so she could sleep without fear. He couldn't even tell Ellie what was happening because they had no real proof of anything. Homer, however, didn't need proof like everyone else did. The minute he had realized what he was looking at on that map, he had just known that she was in danger.

They were plotting to do something to Ellie. To his Ellie. To his best mate.

"She's a bit more than your best mate," a familiar voice came to him.

Homer turned around quickly, bringing up his gun. He stared at what he was seeing and then shook his head. "I'm not so tired that I should be hallucinating things."

"You're not hallucinating. You really see me."

"Corrie, you know I always adored you, but sweetheart, you're dead. There's no way you can be here."

"Well, ok, this isn't usual, but part of me is really here and you know it. Like Ellie, you haven't forgotten me and part of me is always with you." Corrie gave him her old smile. "So shut up and deal with it."

"Ok, say that I'm really talking to the ghost of one of my dead mates," Homer argued. "Why am I seeing you here and now. You said you're always with us."

"I'm here because right now we're both worried about the same thing -- Ellie getting killed like her parents and my mum did."

"Corrie, I'm sorry --"

"Don't you dare, Homer Yannos. Don't you dare undermine everything you have managed to do by apologizing for something that wasn't even your fault. The attack on Ellie's house wasn't your fault or Ellie's. It was the fault of those enemies that came here to begin with."

"They all should have been safe in their own home." Some of Homer's anguish came through in his voice, even though he would never have admitted to it if any of his friends were there in the flesh. "The war was officially over and Ellie thinks her house was targeted because of things we all did in the war."

"You guys did some really amazing things after the bridge," Corrie said with a small smile. "You guys did everything you could and probably helped more than anyone ever gave you credit for. Ellie has no reason to blame herself, which you and I both know she is."

"I think we broke Kevin," he said honestly. "He just... broke."

"We all got broken in some way, Homer. Even you." She lay a hand on his shoulder. "But, you have to make sure to not let yourself get broken again."

Homer looked at her face and then looked away. "I can't be broken."

"Bullshit." Corrie's response was very succinct in the tone she used. "We all broke a little bit. I saw what happened when you thought Ellie had been killed in that last raid you guys did on the fuel station. I know that when she ran toward the sounds of the gunshots at her house you were scared that she was going to walk right into a gunfight."

"She's family."

"I know that you don't think Jeremy is right for her, don't think Lee is good for her and want to kill the guy who stabbed her and Gavin."

"For a dead chick you sure seem to see a lot, Corrie."

"Someone has to watch out for you guys," she teased. "You can't seem to stay out of trouble."

"Trouble is my middle name."

"You love Ellie."

"Of course I love Ellie. She's my best mate, been my sister all of our lives."

"You're in love with Ellie."

"You've got it all wrong, Corrie. I just want to keep my mate safe and make sure no one hurts her. She's lost enough."

"Homer, if you keep lying to yourself, you're never going to stop lying to Ellie."

"She has a boyfriend, now. General Finley's son."

"Who you don't really like and think he's all wrong for her."

"She has feelings for Lee."

"Who you think will put too much on her shoulders because she wants to help him with the kids but he also won't always let her in. You're still mad at him about hurting Ellie with that enemy girl who almost got them both killed when she sold Lee out."

"Corrie --"

"Homer."

Homer dipped his head and sighed. "I don't know if I'm any better for her than Lee is," he said honestly. "She endangered herself to come into the enemy's territory to rescue me from those soldiers."

"Because she would never have been able to keep going if she lost you, too. Her reaction to Lee returning that night without you was immediate. She was going back to get you out."

"I put her into that situation -- a situation that she never wanted to be put back into again. She wanted to leave the guerrilla tactics and the fighting behind her."

"Homer, that's just not possible; not after all of the things that she saw and had to do in the war. It never leaves us. It won't leave her, though Gavin is young enough that maybe it will leave him. She knows that, no matter how much she says otherwise. You went through too much, saw too much, learned too much about how her instincts fired up her adrenaline when she needed it to be. Those things don't take away from who and what she is. They add to everything she already is and work with her in the best way possible."

"But I'm not someone she sees as anyone but her best friend and family."

"Homer," Corrie said softly, "Ellie loves you. She's always loved you and it was hard to see you with Fi because even though she was very supportive of you and Fi, she was hiding how she really felt about you. She didn't want to make either of you feel weird about things."

"So what to you think I should do, then?"

"Wait until this latest danger is past and then tell her how you feel." Corrie frowned. "I also think that you need to talk to Ellie about this thing about your family doing sentry and why before baring your heart, all right?"

Homer to told her he would, but she was gone.

"Damn it Corrie. We miss you so much."

He walked along the perimeter again and realized he had to do some serious thinking about him and Ellie.


End file.
